Fed Expected To Lower Expectations
Fed criticized for prematurely reducing stimulus. NYT: "Federal Reserve officials, who have persistently overestimated the strength of the economic recovery, predicted last June that the economy in 2014 would finally grow more than 3 percent for the first time since the recession. The updated forecasts the Fed will publish on Wednesday are likely to reflect more modest expectations ... the continuing wait for faster growth has reinforced the concern of some critics that the Fed is retreating too quickly from its stimulus campaign. Some see evidence the Fed is undermining its own forecasts by providing less support to the economy. And it has even led some Fed officials to suggest that the central bank should discount its own predictions in deciding how quickly to scale back its own efforts to encourage growth."
Welfare assistance has shifted away from unemployed and unmarried. NYT's Thomas Edsall: "Over the past three decades, Congress has conducted a major experiment in anti-poverty policy. Legislators have restructured benefits and tax breaks intended for the poor so that they penalize unmarried, unemployed parents — the modern day version of the 'undeserving poor.' At the same time, working parents, the aged and the disabled are getting larger benefits ... For the poorest of the poor, the results have been devastating: in 1983, 56 percent of total government transfers going to the poor and near-poor went to those on the bottom, those making 50 percent or less of the federal poverty level income. By 2004, that number had fallen to 32 percent..."
Chicago aldermen propose $15 minimum wage. In These Times: "The ordinance, which already has support from 21 of the 26 aldermen it needs to pass in a Council-wide vote ... would require all businesses with more than $50 million in annual revenue that operate in Chicago (including nationwide chains with franchises in the city) to pay employees $12.50 an hour within 90 days of passage and $15 an hour within a year ... This timeline makes it one of the fastest-acting, most progressive proposals of its kind in the country: Even Seattle’s minimum wage ordinance does not fully take effect until 2025."
Kochs Convene Nation's Billionaires
The Nation finds out who went to the secret Koch brothers summit: "According to conference documents obtained through a source who was in attendance, Representatives Tom Cotton (AR), Cory Gardner (CO) and Jim Jordan (OH) were present, as were Senators Mitch McConnell (KY) and Marco Rubio (FL). Cotton, Gardner and McConnell are all running for the Senate this year ... the conference attendees discussed strategy on campaign finance, climate change, healthcare, higher education and opportunities for taking control of the Senate ... According to another source who also attended the conference, 300 individuals—worth at least a billion each—were present. This source said that the explicit goal was to raise $500 million to take the Senate in the 2014 midterms and another $500 million 'to make sure Hillary Clinton is never president.'"
Frontrunner for House GOP whip funded by Kochs. Bloomberg: "[Rep. Steve] Scalise’s political contributions show the middle ground he occupies between Republican leadership and the Tea Party. He’s received $32,500 from Koch Industries, run by David and Charles Koch, financiers of the small-government movement. Scalise has also received $50,000 from Cantor’s political action committee, known as the Every Republican Is Crucial PAC."
VA Reform Advances, But Faces "Snag"
Veterans Administration reform nears House-Senate conference. Politico: "The [House] Rules Committee approved legislation that would allow veterans who live far from a Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical facility or who have been delayed longer than the VA’s 'standard' wait time for treatment to seek care from a private doctor ... The bill now heads to the House floor. Lawmakers will likely vote Wednesday to send their version of the bill to conference with the Senate ... But the conference committee could hit a snag over funding the private-provider provision in the legislation. The Congressional Budget Office said the provision would cost $35 billion over the next decade. The White House has said it 'strongly supports' the Senate version of the legislation, which also includes a measure from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to create more than two dozen more veterans health facilities across the country."
Some conservatives complain about cost of providing access to private care. W. Post: "The [CBO] report noted that improving access to care through expanded use of private providers could cause more veterans to seek health care through the VA. It said the additional costs for the federal government under the change could reach an estimated $50 billion per year. The VA currently spends about $44 billion annually on health-care services for former troops, so the contracting provision could more than double that cost, if the projections prove to be correct. However, the CBO issued a caveat about its estimates, saying: 'The effects of providing such broad new authority to VA are highly uncertain...'"
Breakfast Sides
Obama's climate rules wildly popular. WSJ: "The [NBC/WSJ] poll finds that 67% of respondents either strongly or somewhat support EPA’s new rule, while only 29% oppose it. Americans are also increasingly willing to stomach higher electricity costs in order to cut carbon emissions. More than half of poll respondents—57%—said they would support a proposal requiring companies to cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming even if it means higher utility bills. That figure is up 9 percentage points since October 2009."
Senate report criticizes cuts in Social Security Administration services. NYT: "The Social Security Administration is closing field offices and reducing services to the public even as demand for those services surges with the aging of the baby boom generation, according to a bipartisan Senate committee report ... In deciding whether to close field offices, the Social Security Administration 'excludes both its own managers and the affected public,' and the decisions often appear arbitrary, the report says ... The agency, in budget documents, acknowledges a problem. 'We have lost a significant number of front-line employees over the last three years, resulting in longer wait times for the American public,' the agency said in its 2015 budget request."
USA Today edit board backs gas tax hike to save highway trust fund: "One idea being floated would end Saturday mail delivery and use the savings to fund roads and transit. Another would declare a temporarily lower tax rate on foreign corporate profits, producing a one-time windfall as companies repatriate cash that has been building up overseas. Neither of these gimmicks would do anything but buy a little time. They would not provide funding adequate to fix the growing backlog of interstate bridges in need of repair."
